Chapter 01: Fleeing from Disaster
After a light cough, Yun Ye helped Master Li Gang lie down on the bed and covered him with a blanket. Li Gang looked at Yun Ye, who was arranging the bed curtains, and said: “You should also rest early. You won’t be staying in Chang’an for many days. Put the academy matters aside for now and focus more on your family. This trip will take at least three years, and if things don’t go smoothly, three years might even be too short. Don’t worry, I won’t die so soon.”
Yun Ye’s hand trembled. What the old master said was exactly what he worried about most. He wanted to speak, but seeing that the old master had already closed his eyes, he snuffed out the candle and walked out of the room, rubbing the lingering warmth between his fingers. These past few days, the academy’s teachers hadn’t returned home to sleep—each one stayed in their own quarters. Fortunately, the recruitment had concluded, so they could finally rest properly.
The spring night on Yushan was cool as water, carrying a hint of chill. The wild peach blossoms in the mountains remained in bud, yet to bloom. Hong Cheng had already made two rounds through the academy and punished two boys who had sneaked to the dining hall to steal food, watching them finish an entire basin of rice before chasing these two upperclassmen outside to walk off their meal. Seeing Yun Ye approach, the two young men embarrassedly wiped the rice grains from the corners of their mouths and perked up their ears to listen to Hong Cheng complain to Yun Ye.
“What’s this? Didn’t you eat enough at dinner?” Yun Ye found it strange. The academy’s food was famously good—how could anyone go hungry?
“In answer to the teacher’s question, it’s not that we didn’t eat enough. We went to the back mountain to watch the craftsmen build the wall and lost track of time. We didn’t make it back for mealtime, and our stomachs were hungry. Huang Shu’s restaurant wasn’t open today either, so we had no choice but to steal food from the dining hall. We violated the academy rules and request the teacher’s punishment.”
“This is just your bad luck. Supervisor Hong has already punished you. Now you’ve eaten too much and should sleep late—walk it off a bit longer to avoid indigestion.”
“They won’t get indigestion. Tonight they need to stand night watch with me,” Hong Cheng said, then continued patrolling along the wall with his subordinates and the two students. Yun Ye had originally wanted to ask Hong Cheng whether the eight-ox crossbow had been returned, but seeing him already walking away, he knew there would be no result. Hong Cheng was holding a grudge.
Walking to his own doorway, Yun Ye suddenly heard a familiar sound and couldn’t help looking up. The pitch-black night sky revealed nothing, but that spine-chilling sense of oppression still existed. The last time he’d felt this way was when Li Er was furious—though it wasn’t directed at him, that violent negative emotion had left an unforgettable impression on Yun Ye.
He listened carefully for a moment. Apart from the wind in the mountains, there was no other sound. Shaking his head strangely, he pushed open the door and turned back for another glance, his heart sinking continuously. A huge dark shadow was passing over the mountain peak, vanishing in an instant into the vast mountain range.
The delicate Pang Shir leaned against the window, staring blankly at the night sky outside, occasionally using the white silk handkerchief in her hand to gently wipe the corners of her eyes. Zhangsun Lan climbed out of bed and said softly: “Shir, hurry and sleep. Tomorrow morning we officially start school. That Shishi—I heard Xiao Ya say she’s very fierce and hits people. We’d better sleep early. Who knows what we’ll encounter tomorrow.”
Shir nodded, closed the curtain, climbed onto her own bed, and curled up like a kitten. Soon, the sound of light, long breathing drifted down. Zhangsun Lan herself also burrowed back under her blanket, hugging her pillow and falling sweetly asleep.
The entire academy fell into darkness. Yun Ye sat rigidly on his bed, his two eyes seemingly emitting wolf-like green light in the darkness. His hands gripped the blanket tightly, his back against the wall, just sitting like that.
“No good—I must leave Chang’an quickly. The strategy of sacrificing a plum tree to save a peach tree still won’t work. They still haven’t gone to trouble the Zhangsun family but came directly to the academy instead. This won’t do. Neither my family nor the academy can have problems. Since the target is me, I’ll leave tomorrow and take up my post in Yuezhou. Dongting Lake has high mountains and broad waters—it’s the perfect place for a life-or-death struggle. Let’s see whether you’re more formidable or I, a man from the future, am stronger.”
The hatred in Yun Ye’s heart had never been as intense as this moment. Those thousand-year-old demons hiding in rat holes all dared to stick their heads out. He’d thought Li Er had always controlled this empire, but who knew he also had areas beyond his reach? Damn it—in this era, you can’t rely on anyone, only yourself. Only when power is in your own hands can you feel secure. I just wanted to live out this lifetime peacefully and safely, but none of you bastards will give me that chance. Fine then, let’s see…
Li Er wasn’t at all surprised by Yun Ye’s sudden departure from home. The Ministry of Personnel quickly issued the documents, and Yun Ye’s Lingnan Naval seal was also returned to him. There were still fifteen large ships at the Chang’an camp, which would conveniently accompany Yun Ye to Yuezhou. When the Military Supervisor loaded large quantities of fire oil onto Yun Ye’s ships, and Li Tai sent over more than a hundred sealed wooden barrels, Yun Ye’s expression finally improved a bit. Being prepared prevents trouble.
Dongyu and Ren Xiong were both on the ship, and Dan Ying had also boarded. Yun Ye didn’t ask Dongyu and Ren Xiong anything, but Dan Ying’s arrival displeased him: “Daya is pregnant. Instead of staying in Luoyang to care for her, what are you doing in Chang’an?”
“Cheng Yaojin said you had big trouble, so I came. Not only did I come—Liu Fang and Master Wu She also came. Gou Zi should arrive soon too.” He finished speaking and stood on tiptoe looking toward the dock.
Sure enough, Gou Zi drove a carriage through rolling dust straight to the dock, shouldered a cloth sack, jumped onto the ship, shouted to set sail, then dove into the cabin and disappeared from sight.
Knowing nothing good was happening, the ship had just left the dock when Hong Cheng, fully armored, appeared on the wharf, furiously waving his broadsword and demanding the large ship return. Yun Ye saw him but pretended not to notice and spoke with Liu Fang and Wu She, who were sitting on the ship’s rail. The two seemed to have become good friends, looking quite intimate.
“This trip to Yuezhou will require hiding for two or three years at least. When the time comes and Gou Zi brings the child to the Hong residence, do you think he’ll acknowledge them?” Wu She said indifferently to Liu Fang.
“Hard to say. However, Hong Cheng is cold on the outside but warm inside. Even if he still disapproves of Gou Zi, for the sake of his grandson he certainly won’t act out. As for Gou Zi suffering some hardship, that’s only proper. He should have agreed to the marriage immediately back then. He had to wait until the girl became beautiful before his heart was moved. Anyone would be unhappy about that. If this matter fell to me, I’d certainly dismember him to vent my hatred.”
“You two, don’t tell me the cloth sack Gou Zi carried back contains Guor. If Hong Cheng reports this to the authorities, Gou Zi will be in serious trouble. As for this matter, I know nothing about it.”
“Hong Cheng has no face to report to authorities. Reporting would only bring humiliation. Have you heard of any major household having the habit of constantly reporting to officials? Don’t they all handle matters themselves? Even if they suffer losses, they can only grit their teeth and swallow it. Young man, Gou Zi’s matter is a small thing. What’s more important is you being chased away like a dog—that’s the big issue. What matter left you without even time to explain things carefully to your family? It’s actually reached the point where even the Emperor can’t protect you? Tell us and let us hear. These past two years teaching at the academy, your bones have gone soft. I don’t know if you can endure this storm.”
The matter couldn’t be hidden. If he said nothing, it might bring them danger. Given these people’s methods—sinister and vicious—one careless move could fall into a trap. These people seemed extraordinarily familiar with him, familiar to a degree that even shocked him.
“Have you two ever heard of the Nine Corpses Welcoming Guests?” Yun Ye sat down heavily on the deck, somewhat dispirited as he spoke to the two old men. He hadn’t had a moment’s peace since getting involved in this matter.
“Nine corpses sending someone to the land of the dead—this is a grand ritual of the nobility. I heard that in ancient times when people were buried with human sacrifices, this was how it was done: one maidservant every five steps, one child every ten steps, one servant every twenty steps. With your noble rank, that’s about all you’d get. You’re a marquis and don’t deserve imperial rites—who would treat you like an emperor?” Wu She was quite knowledgeable about these rituals. He couldn’t imagine who would invest such capital in Yun Ye. You must know these nine corpses couldn’t just be any nine random corpses—they had to be people with blood relations to the killer. In other words, if you planned to use burial sacrifices, you had to start with your own family members, with the final corpse being yourself. Extremely barbaric and extremely brutal, whether toward enemies or oneself—incomparably cruel.
“Two corpses have appeared—one with a smiling face, one with a crying face. I don’t know what face the next one will have.” Yun Ye lay on the deck facing the sky. Things had come to this point; he could only counter each move as it came.
“I’ve never heard of this. Making dead people look like that—only a madman could do it. This doesn’t conform to ritual. Those dead people should all be properly dressed with peaceful expressions. No one wants to lie surrounded by a group of dead ghosts who hate them after death—those people will still need to order them around in the underworld. What if those dead ghosts rebel?”
Yun Ye didn’t hide the matter of the Land of Huaxu from them either, telling the two old men about his recent experiences and doubts. Seeing them sink into contemplation, Yun Ye didn’t disturb them and entered the cabin to find that bastard Gou Zi. What kind of logic was it to stuff someone’s daughter in a cloth sack and run off with her?
Arriving at the cabin, he’d originally expected to see Hong Guor crying her heart out, but who knew Hong Guor was laughing happily without a trace of sadness or distress. Seeing Hong Guor, Gou Zi, and Xiao Ying chatting and laughing together, Yun Ye felt Hong Cheng had raised this daughter for nothing. Barely suppressing his displeasure, he said with a dark expression: “When we reach Luoyang in a bit, I’ll have the Yun family’s merchant caravan send you back to Chang’an. If you want to marry Gou Zi, no problem—I’ll personally act as matchmaker. Your father will still give me that face. This kind of private arrangement—where does it leave your father’s face?”
Hong Guor’s expression changed drastically, and Gou Zi also looked terrified. Yun Ye’s presence was far more powerful than his father’s. If he said he’d send her away, there would absolutely be no discussion.
“My lord, please have mercy on Guor. If she goes back, she’ll be sent into the palace. I heard Guor’s father has already prepared to register her at the Bureau of Imperial Clan Affairs.”
Hearing this, Yun Ye’s heart finally felt somewhat better. Since Hong Cheng had the idea of sending his daughter to the Emperor to regain trust, he felt Gou Zi hadn’t really done anything wrong after all.